(Yicai Global) Oct. 30 -- Shanghai Fintech Industry Union, Shanghai's first such alliance, came into being yesterday, the new organization announced.

The group aims to consolidate the financial technology sector, explore a framework for its business cooperation and create a connectivity mechanism with an industrial ecology, per the announcement.

The coalition, jointly initiated by Shanghai International Group and other 14 units, including banks, insurance firms, securities companies and college institutions, is committed to building a platform for cooperation and international exchanges within the sector, promoting unity among members and enhancing dialog and project connectivity to achieve resource sharing and complementarity of strengths and weaknesses.

The alliance will later build a sector database to provide the fintech field with professional think-tank services to foster its growth.

The 14 units banding together comprise conventional financial service providers such as Guotai Junan Securities, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and Changjiang Pension Insurance, emerging technology-backed financial institutions like Alipay (China) Network Technology, financial trade agencies like China Foreign Exchange Trade System and various colleges, including Shanghai's prestigious Fudan University.

The consortium seeks to pool resources from financial institutions, scientific and technological innovation businesses, scientific research and other parties and further communicate and plan the future development of fintech to better construct a hub for the nascent sector, SIG president Fu Fan said in interview with Yicai Global.

Shanghai Shinovation Capital Fintech International Industrial Park and United Laboratory for International Fintech Innovation were inaugurated yesterday as part of the league's practical steps to focus on developing the area, creating an ecology for it, developing scenarios for fintech applications and exploring innovations in regulatory models.

SPDB, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank, Guotai Junan Securities, Shanghai Securities, China Pacific Insurance (Group), Shanghai Equity Exchange and other major financial businesses in Shanghai are among the main subsidiaries of SIG, a state financial holding group owned by the Shanghai government.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Ben Armour